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Friday,
May 24, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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PM chairs
Unified Command Council meeting
Time to
put end to proxy war: Fernandes |
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10 hurt in
grenade attack
Strike
hits life in valley for 3rd day J&K
hikes DA Decision
to take over college decried
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PM chairs Unified Command Council meeting
Srinagar, May 23 The three-and-half-hour meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, took note of the war-like situation on the border and adopted measures to tackle Pak-sponsored cross-border terrorism in the state, official sources said. Top Army and security officials made important suggestions to effectively counter the proxy war thrust on India by Pakistan. The top brass of the Army, intelligence agencies and paramilitary forces and the top functionaries of the Jammu and Kashmir Government made their presentation on the internal security as well as the political situation in the state, the officials said. The council agreed to step up vigil to foil attempts by jehadi groups to disrupt peace when the state went for Assembly elections in the coming months. The Kaluchak terrorist attack and the assassination of Hurriyat leader Abdul Ghani Lone, besides heavy shelling on the border, also figured prominently in the closed-door session. The security officials also gave their views regarding the necessary measures for internal security in the event of a direct conflict with Pakistan. They said infiltration had continued unabated in the past few months and there had been no change in the level of infiltration. “My presence at today’s meeting of the Unified Command in Srinagar, along with the Home Minister and the Defence Minister, is also intended to convey the message of India’s resolve and readiness to face the challenge by the neighbouring enemy and to have a decisive victory against the enemy,” the Prime Minister stated at the end of the meeting. This was for the first time that the Prime Minister attended the crucial meeting with senior state government functionaries to review the security situation in the state. The Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, who accompanied the Prime Minister on the three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, the Minister of State for Home, Mr I.D. Swami, and the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, also attended the meeting.  |
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Time to put end to proxy war: Fernandes Line Of Control (LoC), Northern Sector, May 23 “India is left with no other option, but to take decisive measures to stamp out cross-border terrorism,’’ Mr Fernandes told soldiers at frontier areas of Tangdhar and Machil sectors. The minister said the government was determined to settle the issue of the proxy war once for all. “It is the time to put an end to this menace.’’ Mr Fernandes visited the LoC in this sector after accompanying Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Kupwara, where he met senior Army official and soldiers. Mr Vajpayee had asked the troops to be prepared for the supreme sacrifice in the “decisive’’ battle against cross-border terrorism. The Defence Minister said India was forced to take extreme steps after it realised that diplomatic and other measures had failed to rein in Pakistan. “We have exhausted all diplomatic options before taking this decisive step. Pakistan did not favourably respond by stopping its support to the proxy war.’’
UNI |
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10 hurt in grenade
attack Srinagar, May 23 He said the security forces killed two militants in an encounter, when they were about to plant an IED on the Srinagar-Jammu highway near Chursoo-Awantipora in Pulwama district of south Kashmir in the wee hours today. The security forces had laid an ambush at Awantipora village near Chursoo and noticed movement of some militants. A gunbattle followed killing both the militants, he said. The spokesman said the IED, wrapped up in a polythene bag along with all accessories and devices, besides a pistol, a grenade and a wireless set were seized from the slain militants. Official sources identified the slain militants who were residents of Tral and associated with the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit. The spokesman said 10 persons including a BSF jawan, were injured when militants detonated a grenade at Sopore bus stand, 55 km from here in Baramula district of north Kashmir today. The grenade was lobbed towards a moving security vehicle but missed the target and exploded on the road injuring nine pedestrians and a BSF jawan on duty, he said. A militant and a security jawan were injured in a shootout at Sheikhpora-Dardpora in border district of Kupwara late last night, the spokesman said. The encounter took place when militants opened fire on an ambush party of the Army in the village, he said adding the injured militant escaped. Militants kidnapped a person and killed him later in Kandi in Kupwara late last night, the spokesman said adding another civilian was shot dead by militants in the Warpora area of Baramula district yesterday. He said the police arrested a militant Manzoor Ahmad Lone from Sagipora-Sopore in Baramula yesterday. A pistol along with some ammunition was seized from the arrested militant. The
security forces also recovered a grenade from the house of one Ghulam
Ahmad Kaboo at Jalal Sahib in Baramula last evening, he said. PTI |
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Strike hits life in valley for 3rd day Srinagar, May 23 Today’s general strike was in response to the separatist Hurriyat Conference’s two-day call for Thursday and Friday “to organise a massive protest against the assassination of Abdul Ghani Lone.” Lone fell to the bullets of unidentified gunmen at Eidgah on Tuesday on the occasion of the 12th death anniversary of Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq who had also met the same fate on the same day in 1990. The separatist All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a conglomeration of 23 separatist groups, had also sponsored a general strike in the valley yesterday in protest against the visit of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the assassination of its senior executive member, Lone. While the call for protest on Wednesday was given against the visit of the Prime Minister, it coupled with the death of Lone. A complete shutdown that coincided with the killing of Lone was also observed on Tuesday to commemorate Mirwaiz Mouli Mohammad Farooq, founder leader of the Awami Action Committee (AAC), a constituent of the separatist Hurriyat Conference. All shops and business establishments were closed and traffic was off the roads. Educational institutions and most of the banks were also closed. There was thin attendance in government offices. Skeletal transport plied on certain routes in the city. Meanwhile, Rasm-e-Chaharum, the fourth day observance of condolence in memory of the assassinated Hurriyat leader, Lone, will be held here tomorrow, according to family members. A special prayer at the graveyard at Eidgah will be followed by a condolence meeting at their residence in Sanatnagar. Several mainstream political parties and separatist groups have condoled and condemned the killing of Lone. The ruling National Conference General Secretary, Sheikh Nazir Ahmad, and provincial President, Mr G.N. Shaheen, have also expressed their grief and sorrow over the death of the Hurriyat leader. The state
Congress leader, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, has strongly condemned the killing and described Lone as a staunch believer in peace, secularism and democracy. |
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J&K hikes DA Srinagar, May 23 The DA per month, including previous instalments, would now be 49 per cent of the basic pay from January last, an official release said today. The order issued to this effect by the Finance Department here yesterday said the provision of the order would also apply to mutatis and mutandis in the case of all India service officers serving in connection with the affairs of the state. Simultaneously, the government has also enhanced the allowances with effect from January 2002, to pensioners in the state.
PTI |
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Decision
to take over college decried Jammu, May 23 Leaders of the Kashmiri Pandit Sabha, the All-State Kashmiri Pandit Conference, the Panun Kashmir, the All-India Kashmiri Pandit Conference, the All-Kashmiri Pandit Solidarity Conference and the Panun Kashmir Movement met here yesterday and adopted a resolution urging the government to desist from taking over the control of the college. The resolution accused the government of planning to complete the ethnic cleansing which had been initiated by the separatists in 1989. The leaders pledged to fight against the decision. Mr
A. K. Dewani, president of the Hindu Education Society, briefed the organisation leaders about the nefarious role of the government in taking over the college’s control which was a blow to the secular traditions of the state. |
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